Play that Funky Music, Ms Scratch
by Moviefreak523
Summary: Somehow, I won a ticket at a raffle to some place called Moonlight Wilderness. At first, I thought about giving it to somepony else, that it was not a place for me. But, I didn't. I kept it. And, I was glad for that. Otherwise, I may not had the chance to meet her. Anthro fic in first-person. (Or, pony)
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Victory at the Raffle**

Somehow, I managed to win the grand prize in a raffle that took place in my dormitory on the campus of the University of Manehatten. I looked at the white envelope as everypony closed in to block my escape with curiosity in their eyes as to what I had won. I knew that I was incapable of enjoying my victory in private, and that everypony would constantly bug me to tell them what I had won, so I ripped open the envelope and the grand prized fell into my hand.

I had been a student at the university for my first semester. Winter Break would be arriving in a week, and at that point, every student would be preparing themselves to study or write their papers, myself included. I was a simple earth pony who had done very well in my classes in high school in my hometown of Ponyville, but I couldn't get the scholarships that I need to get into college. My father didn't want me to go, as he wanted me to be the inheritor of his grocery store, something which I had no desire to do. I did not want to burden my parents with my college expenses, so my only option was to join the Royal Guards, since the princesses were willing to give financial assistance in exchange for four years of duty. While my mother was supportive, my father only half-heartedly accepted it, saying that maybe it would make a stallion out of me by the time I got out.

After my four years were finished, I returned home and worked at my father's store for about a year. While I was serious with my work around the place, which led him to believe that I had changed my mind, I was secretly applying for many colleges across Equestria. The University of Manehatten accepted me and I had to break the news to my parents. Once again, my mother was supportive, but my father was so furious that he did not even say good-bye to me when I left. I haven't talked to him since.

My dad, he always had an odd way of showing how much he loved me. Whenever I see other fathers showing their love for their sons by hugging them, kissing them, and playing with them, I would get envious because my father's way of showing his love was to have me work in his store whenever I was not in school. He would always treat me as if I was another one of his employees, even when we were not working in the store. Whenever he did want to talk to me, it would always have to do with his business like what products do we need, repairs or renovations, or whatever else about the store that I was supposed to inherit needed.

It was really frustrating for me because I know that he was capable of showing love just as much as anypony could. He does it with my mom, with his friends; he even showed his kind side to complete strangers, but never to me. For example, about six months after I joined the Palace Guards, a story about a young pregnant mare that was attacked at knife point in Los Pegasus was all over the news in Equestria. The mare managed to survive because a mysterious young stallion chased the would-be murderer away and carried the pregnant mare to the nearest hospital. The mysterious stallion was hailed by the newspaper as a hero, and my father sang praises along with them. It really made me angry that he would do that for some pony he had never met but ignore me, his own son, completely. I wanted to tell him what really happened, but I was afraid that he would change his mind. My mother did her best to assure me that he loves and cares for me, but it was never enough. I wanted him to show me that he cared, but I doubt he would. He always told me that I was too much of a filly to be getting any love from him.

My life in the dormitory had been quite an eye opening experience. During the school days, things would be relatively quiet. The ponies that I lived with on the floor were very considerate and nice and I could get some sleep with no problems. However, as soon as the last class on Friday was dismissed, like a switch in their brains, they went from "Student Mode" to "Crazy Ass Mode."

I couldn't help but believe that some higher form than Princess Celestia thought it would be hilarious if I lived on the floor of the dormitory that had the notorious reputation for being the craziest dorm floor of all on campus. I only chose the place because it promised a great view of the ocean, which I didn't get.

Like clockwork, every Friday, at exactly 6:30 in the evening, outside of my room's door, I would hear girls discussing what they were going to wear and guys talking about how hammered they were going to get. Some of the guys would talk about how hot some of the girls are and some girls would talk about how hot some of the guys are. And, on some occasions, I would even hear that one guy or girl who would tell his or her friends about how they are going to fuck some guy's or girl's brains out. Sometimes, it would cause me to wake up the middle of the night, hearing the sounds of moaning and groining either next door or on the floor above me, as their beds banged on their walls, as I looked at them with silent annoyance, invisibly fucking each other.

Thankfully, those were rare occurrences. These ponies were pretty considerate about other ponies' sense of privacy. While they didn't give me the room with the great ocean view, at least they respected my wish of having my own room. I believe my time in that dorm would have been almost unbearable if I bunked with one of those party animals.

However, as much as I enjoy my private time in my little dorm room, there were times that I wished that I could just go through that door and go out with the other ponies. Many times at night, I wanted to just drop my book I was reading or slam my laptop shut, just to make that paper I was working on disappear from my eyes so that I wouldn't have to worry about it until I get back from a long night of fun. Whatever I was doing, I just wanted to drop it and to just go out there. Some of them even invited me to join them a few times. I really wanted to accept, but I couldn't bring myself to say a simple word like "Yes."

Even in a town like Ponyville, where everypony knew everypony, I was always that kid who would rather hide in the back of the crowd. My whole life, I was afraid to let ponies see who I was. Sometimes, I would get nightmares about how they would judge me if I would show them my peculiarities, that they would find some objection to them. I even let the girl of my dreams back in high school escape from me because I couldn't gather the courage to say to her that I liked her. On some nights, I would look outside of my window, so high up from the ground, at the place where large crowds of young stallions and mares would pile up at the front of the entrance. Their combined voices were almost as loud as thunder, and they showed no care for the weather. The blizzard of the century could be raging over them and they would still be outside waiting for that bus to take them downtown, to somewhere other than here. As soon as their bus arrived, they would leave all of their fears and worries about the future behind them, in the dorm, where I kept silent guard over them until they return to reclaim them late in the night.

At the end of every semester, each dormitory held a raffle in their building, and everypony would get the chance to win some prizes, whether you wanted to or not. Every name was placed into a hat which they drew from. Every year, each dorm had their own separate grand prize which was kept secret until some pony won it at the very end. From what I'd heard, these prizes could be pretty expensive, depending on what they could afford at the time. Game systems and big screen television had been given out in the past. Once, they even sent some pony on a cruise. This semester, however, my dormitory had been pretty low on their budget, but they seemed certain that the grand prize, which was in a little white envelope, would please anypony.

Before they could get to the grand prize, they had to give away all of the other prizes, which they had spread out on the front tables. They had pens, sweaters, gift cards, DVDs, games, journals, mini refrigerators, vacuums, a couple of free spa passes, and other nice things. They were all good gifts and it was enough to get me out of the room to join in on the excitement. I figured that I might win one of the lesser prizes, which I wouldn't mind at all. I may not talk all that much, but I still felt comfortable with the right crowd.

As the night went on and the prizes dwindled, my name had not been called out yet. I must admit that my heart was racing. It continued to accelerate as each prize was won and my name wasn't called. My name was still in that hat somewhere, hidden within the hundreds of other potential winners. I wished that they would call out my name so that I would be relieved of this anxiety and get the hell out of there, because the atmosphere was rather quiet as I was sure that every pony was thinking the same thing. Soon, we were just a few prizes away from the grand prize; the whole room went dead silent. As they drew out a name, I could hear somepony seizing air through their teeth and letting a flood of it out once the name was called. I wasn't sure if it was because they were glad that they were still in the game, or if they were angry that they had to live with the torture for just a little longer.

Finally, mercy was upon us as they announced the grand prize. As they juggled the strands of paper in the hat, no pony dared to even whisper for fear of not hearing their name. As they placed their hand into the nest of names, my heart raced tenfold and I was sure every pony around me could hear it. As they looked at the winner's name on that thin slip of paper, then they gave their announcement.

"Red Badge!"

All of the ponies let out groins of disappointment but they quickly felt relieved as they were freed from their anxiety. They turned to me to applaud and congratulate. I, on the other hoof, was still in a state of apprehension. It took my mind a few seconds to realize that the name they had called out was my own. I thought that I was imagining it until I saw the envelope floating in front of my face by a unicorn's magic. I could feel many pairs of eyes on my body as I had become the center of attention. I grabbed the envelope and examined it, but there was nothing written on it. I saw that I wouldn't be able to escape and enjoy my prize in secret, and, considering these ponies were just as curious as I was, I ripped open the envelope and turned it on its side.

A dark blue piece of paper fell into my hand and I heard many ponies around me whispering, and giving me looks that told me that they recognized what the prize was. The mood of the other ponies in the room ranged from excitement to a sense of envy. I turned the paper over and read out loud what it was written in an elaborate font.

"One Free Pass to the most happening place in Manehatten, the _Moonlight Wilderness_!"

Immediately, the whole place erupted as the ponies exchanged amazement, envy, and excitement. A couple of them started to bargain with money or whatever for my free pass to this place that I didn't even know about. However, they were quickly hushed by the rest, who were all telling me that I should definitely go there myself. They praised the music that was played there, as well as the food and the drinks. They also said that there was a lot of dancing, and some of the hottest mares that anypony could ever meet. Some of them even spoke of a DJ, who happened to be a mare, who dished out some the "sickest" music ever. They said that she was able to set whatever mood she wanted, for any kind of night. They quickly ran out of adjectives to describe this mystery mare, except for "she's hot," which they repeated, a lot. However, when I asked for her name, they couldn't tell me which made me feel a little suspicious about their knowledge of the place.

At first, I was apprehensive about going to a place that I hadn't even known existed until a few minutes ago. What does one do in a night club? Dancing? I rather not. I was beginning to consider trading the ticket for some other prize that would fit better with my personality, but as I was about to make my offer to the crowd, I stared down at the ticket a little bit more. This ticket proclaimed that it would let me into the "happening" place in the city, and I got a little curious as to how they defined "happening." I did win this and it would be a shame not to use it. If I was given the choice of having to purchase a ticket to this place, I wouldn't have bought it, no matter how much I wanted to. I would be too embarrassed to do so because I felt that I didn't belong in that sort of place. But now, fate seemed to force its hand, once again, and placed this ticket into my hands. An opportunity like this should not be rejected. Fear normally ruled over me, but my excitement was breaking through its defenses.

I planned tomorrow night for me to visit this _Moonlight Wilderness_.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter I: The Snow-White Mare**

I was surprised to learn that the club was not that far away from the campus. In fact, one of the bus routes goes by there. That fact did steel my resolve to, at least, check the place out. I thought it would be simple. If I did not find it to my fancy, I would just leave and wait for the bus or just simply walk back. Before I left, I wanted to do a little research on the place, to find out what kind of history it had. It turned out that the place opened about a year before and it had received much acclamation for owning its own unique and personal style, something that I would appreciate. Apparently, the owner of the club liked their privacy as much as I do because I could not find a name or personal information about them, but that did not matter to me. Overall, however, _Moonlight Wilderness_ intrigued me enough to making me wanting to go even more. Who knows, I thought, I could end up liking it.

Satisfied with it, I looked through my wardrobe to see what I could wear. I pulled out a black plaid long-sleeved buttoned down shirt and wore it over my white undershirt. I settled on some light khaki pants over my usual blue jeans because I felt that I should be a bit classier for this kind of place. I looked over myself one more time in the mirror to see if I look presentable. I ran my hand over my short, red mane and straightened my small rectangular glasses resting on my nose in the middle of my beige face. I turned to my side and see my red, ankle-length tail and figured that I looked good enough. Happy with the results, I grabbed for my gray jacket and left.

The weather outside was unusually warm for winter, but there was a cold nip as the strong wind blew across campus from the ocean. As I walked out of the entrance, the large group of ponies was still waiting for the bus to take them away again for one last time before Winter Break. As they saw me, they gave out many catcalls, saying how they wished that they were in my hooves. My victory at the raffle yesterday had made me somewhat of a celebrity at the dorm. The ponies all kept telling me that they, through a friend's friend or any number of them, that everything about the club was like some kind of magical place, where everypony was cool with each other as they let the music soothe and excite them at the same time. The name, _Moonlight Wilderness_, convey some sort of mixture of peaceful existence and wild imagination which I found somewhat poetic. But, I was not going to let any amount of hype to convince me of what kind of place I should be expecting. I was just hoping that tonight would be a good night; nothing more, nothing less.

I sat at the front of the bus, looking out of the windshield so I did not miss it. As the bus turned off the route that I normally took to go into the city, my heart was getting louder as I could hear it drumming inside of my ears. I could not believe that I was going to do this, that I was going to an unfamiliar and uncharted territory for me to explore. I slouched back into my seat and try to calm my mind, but it was fruitless. Thoughts kept swimming around as images of me trying to act cool, when, in fact, I was acting like a fucking idiot appeared to me like movies. Several times I almost pulled down the cord to tell the bus driver that I wanted off, begging him to not let me go there. But, I sat over them to keep myself from reaching up. I told myself that I was going to do this, that I was forcing myself. I could hear my father's voice shouting from the back of my head, telling me that I couldn't do this, that I was a big fucking filly. I pushed him back into the recess of my brain to silence him. He was the last thing I need to hear.

I took big breaths to feed my heart and lungs to calm them down, which did help a little. I kept repeating myself under my breath that I was going to do this, that it'll be painless. I was going to get in and stay for a couple of hours. Maybe even dance, but I doubted it. And, when I get my fill, I would just get out and get back home, where, I was sure, many ponies were impatiently waiting for me to tell them what the place really was like.

As the bus made its next turn, I could see huge lights shining from the large building up ahead. As we got closer, I could read _Moonlight Wilderness_ flashing in neon blue and white. Underneath it, a large crowd of ponies was gathered, extending out into the street. I knew that I had arrived to my destination. I hesitantly pulled the cord down and the bus stopped just a few yards away from the huge crowd. I exited the bus and watched it leave me to fend for myself in this strange and new environment.

I looked over at the crowd, all of them looking much different than what I had anticipated. It was almost as if I had stepped onto another planet. Many of the ponies had turned their manes into giant spikes that lined up in the middle of their heads in various different colors. Some had piercings in their eyebrows, nose, cheeks, and lips, or a whole line of them. One mare, who caught me looking at her, stuck out her tongue to show me the bolt that went through it. I just smiled and continued with my examination. I couldn't tell what clothing they had as their coats or jackets hid them from me, but another mare was more than happy to show me what she was hiding underneath her big coat as she opened both folds to reveal that she wore a pink bikini suit that matched her coat so well that it appeared almost invisible. The crowd cheered at the exhibition she gave, but I turned to walk away, my face flushing really badly.

It was getting a bit too much for me to handle. My heart was punching my rib cage like it wanted to get out, that it did not want to deal with the stresses that I was putting it under. I wanted to get out of there myself, but I forced my legs to stop. I couldn't understand why I was so afraid, why that I wanted to get out of there. But, I had no reason for wanting to come here, other than that I had won a ticket at the stupid raffle. I told myself that I did not belong here, that I never should have come here. I did not understand why I even wanted to attempt something like this when it was clear as the flashing sign behind me that I do belong in this world, just as my father kept telling me that I did not belong anywhere but in Ponyville and that store of his. Might as well, since I did not have the balls to go do anything else, or that I was such a pussy and that I was more of a mare than a stallion, or that I was an embarrassment to him whenever I make the slightest mistake in front of him, or that I was not the son that he wanted me to be. What sort of achievement could I obtained by just staying for an hour or so at this night club? What was it that would convince me that my father was completely, not just 100% but an infinity percent, wrong about me? Could I actually find that in a place like this? So, I just waited there, waiting for a reason, any reason, for me to get inside the _Moonlight Wilderness_.

"Somepony stop that motherfucker!"

I picked my head up, almost thinking that this pony was referring to me. I looked and saw, in the crowd, ponies cursing as they were pushed to the side until a young stallion broke through them. He stumbled, but regained his footing and he sprinted down toward me. I saw his hand pulling out of something that was in his other hand. Almost immediately afterward, another pony broke through from the crowd, a white mare with a blue mane.

"Hey, stop him!" she shouted at me, pointing at the sprinting stallion. "He just stole my fucking wallet!"

I looked at the stallion and he looked at me. The white mare started to give chase, but there was no way she could catch up to him. I could see on his face that he was begging me to let him through. As he was about to swerve around me, I extended my hoof out so that it caught one of his legs. I may be very shy, but that does not mean that I would just let some crime be committed if I could help it. I had to learn that lesson the hard way.

He fell down with a slam and slid a bit before stopping. The wallet flew out of his hand and landed just a couple of yards away. I left him there groaning to retrieve the wallet, which the white mare replaced me at his side. She started kicking him in the stomach and groin and, from the sound of the impacts, convinced me that she'd break a bone or two.

"You fucking piece of shit!" she yelled at him, keeping him down on the sidewalk as she laid out her punishment. "I otta rip off your nuts and feed them to the squirrels so you don't spread your shitty DNA all over Equestria!"

I quickly grabbed the wallet and ran up to her, wrapping my arms up underneath her armpits from behind and pulled her away. She was very light and about a half a foot shorter than me. She kicked the air, demanding that I should let her go so she can kill him.

"Easy, easy," I said to her. "I've got your wallet." I showed it to her as I released her. She seemed to calm as she left her will to kill and snatched her wallet out of my hand. I took a step back, thinking that she may explode again.

The wannabe thief slowly got up, but took his time as he continued to moan. The mare opened up her wallet and started counting her bits to make sure that all were there. I quickly grabbed the thief by the arm, which he tried to pull away but I gripped him tight.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" he yelled, but I responded by twisting his arm behind his back, which made him squeal like a little filly.

"Look, buddy," I said to him in my guard's voice, something that I had not used since I left Canterlot. "If you have any bits that don't belong to you, I suggest that you give them back to the lady over there before she finish her counting."

"Dude, I don't have any on me!"

"Alright. I hope that you're telling the truth," I told him, giving him my best intimidation that I could without letting him see my uneasiness.

Soon, I turned my focus on the white mare, which I saw that she is a unicorn with her horn protruding up through her frazzle and wild aqua mane, which extend down to her neck. Her tail swished back and forth, sweeping the snow next to her black pants which complimented her slender legs as they hug her thighs and calves. She wore a black jacket, which the front was open, showing a black top that wrapped around her bust, leaving her stomach exposed, which I could see some small jewelry shining from her belly button. Her hands were covered in, guess what, black glovelettes, with her fingers free from the cloth and extended up her arm and disappeared into the sleeves of her jacket. Around her neck, a pair of pretty expensive headphones rested around her neck. And, they are also black. I wondered why she had so much black on her, but it does insinuate her snow white body.

With a snap, her wallet closed and she pointed her accusing glare at the thief with her arms crossed. "There are four bits missing," she said with a chillness that matched the air around us.

"Oh, come on!" the thief exasperated.

I didn't want to question her, but I didn't want her to continue with her punishment. "Are you sure that you have bits missing?" I asked her.

She gave me an angry look that I thought she was going to kick me instead. "I counted each and every one before I left my apartment! So, I think I should know how much I have in my damn wallet!" I tried to calm her down, but she kept going, screaming at the both of us. "I'll be damn if I'm going to let this asshole get with my money!"

"Get the fuck off my ass, bitch!" the thief screamed at her. "It's just four fucking bits!"

"Which I fucking earned every last one of them, you fucker!"

"SHUT UP, THE BOTH OF YOU!" I screamed at the two, which they did as they wore surprised looks on their faces as they stared at me. I turned to the mare, trying to enforce some authority over the situation. "Just calm down, Miss," I told her. "But, if you try to kick him again, I'll make sure that you are arrested along with him for assault. Is that understood?"

She could have just asked me for some identification, but my demeanor was convincing enough that she took a couple of steps back. She re-crossed her arms again and waited for me. I turned my attention to the thief.

"Okay, here's the deal," I told him. "I know you're lying. I saw you pulled your hand out of her wallet as you were running towards me. Not a very smart idea. Now, if you would give the four bits back to her, I'll promise to let you go and you can be on your way." I had to stop to silence the mare's protest. "But, if you don't, I'll call the police and you get to spend the night in jail. What's it going to be?"

He took a look at the mare, who continued to give him the death glare. After a few seconds, he relented. "They're in the right pocket."

I nodded and reached into it and pulled out the four bits. I handed them to the mare, which she half-heartedly accepted. As promised, I released him and he was on his way, empty-handed.

"You know he's gonna try again," she said to me as she returned her bits back into her wallet.

"I know," I admitted. "Maybe he'll learn his lesson after this."

"Don't count on it," she shook her head as she pushed her wallet into her pocket inside of her jacket. "Thanks, anyway." Her face finally softened, giving a kind tone to her look. She gave me a small smile, which made my heart fluttered a bit. As I took a closer look at her, she was the prettiest mare that I had ever seen. The outfit she wore had made her appear rather exotic in my eyes as I had never seen a mare look like her, or even come close.

I didn't realize that I was dropping my Royal Guard demeanor. "I…uh…yeah, sure." I scratched the back of my head, starting to feel so stupid that that was all I could say to her, even after what I had just done. It was high school all over again for me.

"Were you trying to get inside the club?" she asked.

I was a bit taken aback by the question, but I immediately answered her. "Oh, uh…yes. Yes, I was." I could feel my face burning up.

She eyed my clothes, looking up and down my body like a bemused judge staring at a defendant on trial. Her smile went coy as she placed a finger on her lips as if to keep them shut from laughing.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked her, feeling her eyes crawling on me.

"No," she answered. She looked at my face, with that smile still there. "I just never saw anypony who was as dressed up as you are coming to this place."

I looked down at my outfit and compared it to her and saw the distinction. Next to her, I looked as if I was going to some meeting across the city. "Oh," was all I could say as I could feel my embarrassment rising as I tried to find something more interesting than her dark red eyes, which was hard as I found them rather intoxicating. "It's not good enough, huh?"

"No, no, it's fine," she shook her head as if to reassure me. "Course, you may not be able to convince the guards to let you in."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's a pretty exclusive place. In order to get in, you need to have some kind of invitation, or convince somepony to let you in as a guest."

"Huh." I couldn't believe that I missed that information. Then, an uneasy thought occurred to me. "Wait. Then, how does one get invited into this club?"

"Well, usually, the owner of the club, whose identity shall remain secret," she told me in her cupped hand, "would just randomly pick names in a phone book and send out invitations all over Equestria. If that pony does not want it, they could just give it to somepony else. It's usually used as a free pass, just to see if that pony may like it or not. Then, they could get a membership card if they wish to continue visiting."

"I see." I start to figure out that the ticket I had with me was one of those invitations. "Then, what are those ponies doing?"

"Them?" she turned to the large crowd, which still had not changed a bit in size. "They usually come here and wait, hoping to grab somepony who is a member here to let them in. Sad, really."

After I nodded, I quickly pulled out my ticket and showed it to her. "Is this the ticket that you were talking about?"

She took a closer look at it, making sure that it was not some counterfeit. "Yeah, that does look like the real deal." Then, her face changed to show that something was wrong. "Uh-oh."

"What?" I asked.

She looked up at me, her face almost apologetic. "I forgot to mention that these tickets do have expiration dates."

My heart nearly dropped as I pulled the ticket away, looking at it accusingly. She pointed at the bottom right hand corner, where it said that the ticket become expired after last night.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me?" I was dumbstruck by this. "I don't…" I was at a loss for words as I crumbled up the useless piece of paper and threw it into the trash, letting out a frustrating growl. "I actually won this at a stupid raffle last night," I told her, not sure why but she seemed to be attentive. "One of them at my dorm must have received this as an invitation, but they didn't want it, so they decided to give it away as a prize, but didn't realize that these things could not last for so long." I shook my head in sheer disbelief. I had come out here, in the freezing cold, at night, away from the last of my studies, for nothing. I was ready to walk away, to get the hell out before I embarrassed myself further in front of this beautiful mare.

"Do you still want to go in?"

I turned to look at the mare, who had a smirk on her face as she looked at me.

I just threw my arms into the air. "I can't if I don't have a way to get in."

"I didn't ask you if you _can_," she said, moving closer to me. "I asked if you _want_ to."

I looked back at her as she pushed her body towards mine. I would have ended up in the street if it weren't for the trash can blocking my path. Her face was so close to mine that I could only see her deep, fiery red eyes. My breath was leaving me and I couldn't seem to bring it all back.

I was about to say "No," but my tongue was numbed to that word. Just the way she was staring at me was almost like a tigress getting ready to pounce on her prey before she could let it get away. I could feel my heart pounding and my legs wanting to take me away as far away as it can, but a sense of desire within me overruled it. As I stared into those eyes, which I don't know if I was imagining it or it was just wishful thinking on my part, I couldn't help but to notice a bit of longing showcasing to me. And, all of a sudden, I didn't want to be alone tonight. For the first time in my life, I felt more afraid of being alone.

"Y-Y-Yes," I whispered my answer, my voice cracking from the cool air.

Satisfied, she grabbed my hand and pulled me along. "Come on, let's go," she said, giggling at my sudden reluctance.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I called out, confused by her action.

"Repaying the favor," she answered as she looked back at me. "You helped me, I help you." We both arrived at the edge of the crowd as I stopped next to her.

"What are you talking about?"

She turned her head and cocked an eyebrow as if I had just asked the stupidest question. "I'm gonna let you in, duh."

"But-" she halted my protest with her one finger pressed upon my lips. They felt hot to the touch as she looked at me straight into my eyes as if she was figuring me out as I was with her.

"Just let me do all the talking, okay?" she gave me a playful wink before she took my hand again and started to pull. But, I stopped her.

"Wait-" I tried to say, but she interrupted me, her voice getting a little harsher.

"Fine, if you don't want to go in, you could have just-"

I stopped her with my two fingers on her lips, which they felt soft and moist, which I was surprised by my action as she was as her eyes looked down at them. I pulled them away quickly, thinking that I had just violated her space, but she did not show it as she waited for me to speak.

"It's not that," I began, my heart pounding a million miles a second. I felt as if I was going to pass out into the cold ground. "I just…I would like to know your name, if you don't mind."

She apparently didn't as she gave me a sweet smile. "Sure," she extended out her hand for me to take. "I'm Vinyl Scratch."

I took it and we shook. "Nice to meet you. I'm Red Badge."

"A pleasure," she curtly nodded, and then she turned around, pulling me as she swam through the crowd, with me faithfully behind her.

"Hey, Vinyl," a stallion called out. "Don't tell me that you're taking that guy in with ya?"

"Yeah," another stallion called out, who we had just passed by. "Why picked this shrimp when you could have a stallion like me?"

"Yeah, some stallion who couldn't stop a simple thief from getting away," she called him out, which the whole crowd gave their satisfaction with jeers. "Besides," she continued, "I think he's rather cute." She turned her head back at me and gave me a truthful wink, which I turned away to hide my blush and my smile. This was the first time that a girl actually gave me a compliment like that and it made my body feel like it wanted to fly.

We made it to the front, where a large, black stallion stood blocking the entrance with several other guards. I don't think the two of us, with her standing on my shoulders, would have been enough to even match his height.

"Hey, Big Shot," Vinyl greeted him with a cheerful wave. I thought about greeting him with a simple wave, but I decided against it. The look he gave in his eyes looked as if they could squash me like an ant if I did something to offend him.

As he turned to Vinyl, however, his features relaxed. "Hey there, girl," his voice sounded gruff. "What are you doing here? I thought that you won't be working till next week."

She works here, I thought. I looked at her as if she had been lying to me. She must have caught it as she gave me a quick glance. She gave me a quick squeeze of her hand before turning back to the large guard. I dropped the issue there, figuring that it did not matter.

"Yeah, well, I got a little bored and I figured I could pass the time here," she said.

He gave her a single nod before he turned his attention to me. I felt myself shrinking under his deadly gaze. "And, you are?"

I was about to answer, or tried to at least, when Vinyl jumped in. "This guy here," she gave me a light pat on my chest with her other hand, "saved me from starving and possibly me losing my new apartment."

He didn't give his nod to me, almost as if he was not easily impressed by anything unless it was warranted. "Do you have an invitation?"

I actually thought that was the end of it until Vinyl jumped in again. "I'm vouching for him. He's my guest."

He went silent, as if contemplating, but he soon stepped aside to make a pathway to the green doors behind him. "Alright. But, you know the rules," he threatened. "If he wants to come in again, he needs to buy a pass inside before he takes one step out. After that, you can't vouch for him again."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," she waved at his threats as if they were flies. "Now, will you let us in? We're freezing our tails off out here."

He gave another curt nod and we went pass him. I looked behind in time to see him falling back into his place, causing the crowd to erupt in a whole series of "boo's"

"Oh, don't worry about them," Vinyl said. "They'll be gone before you know it."

When she opened the door, I thought I was about to be blasted out into the street because that was the heaviest music I had ever heard in my life.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter II: First Impression**

The music pounded against my entire body like it was trying to push me out of its domain. I vainly covered my ears to protect them from the huge sound, but it hardly muffled it as it continued with its attack. I looked over at the mare and see her lips moving, but I couldn't make out her words.

"What?" I screamed at her.

She moved her mouth closer to my shielded ear. "I said 'Too loud?'"

"Can't you tell?"

She grabbed my arm and tried to pull it away from my head. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

I slowly let my ears get accustomed to the loudness of the music (I was doubting if it was music at the time), but I could feel its weight banging straight into my brain. "Sure, when I become deaf."

She continued to drag me down the long concourse that laid out in front of us. The neon green ceiling domed over the blue flooring, radiating its color over the ponies that walked, conversed, and kissed along the length. She took me over to a spot on the right where a young mare danced along with the music behind the counter. She instantly recognized Vinyl as the two mares waved and hugged each other across the bar.

"How you been?" the mare asked Vinyl.

"I'm doing good!" Vinyl answered as she started to remove her jacket. As she did, I could see that it was a tube top she was wearing underneath. Her shoulders were bare and her white fur extended down her arms to where the long black gloves began at her elbows. Her back was completely nude save for a single strap that held her top in place. It was not wide, only a good finger's width and it pushed up a small gathering of her fur where it hugged tight against her illuminating body.

"Your jacket?" I brought my eyes up and found her looking at me with a suspicious, yet sly look. I quickly shook from my daze and hurriedly removed my jacket and handed it to her. As she gave it to the girl, the two giggled. I turned my head away to hide the blush forming on my cheeks as I thought that they were talking about me and the possibility that I was checking her out.

I might as well be naked in the place as I felt stupid for wearing the outfit I had as I studied what the other ponies were wearing and I quickly came to the conclusion that I was not appropriately dressed, so to speak, for this sort of venue. There were some ponies that wore clothing that were more revealing than what Vinyl had on. I wanted to get out of there and take my losses, but I felt myself trapped and I did not know what had ensnared me. I doubted that it was the music, though I soon found myself bobbing my head along to the beat. I had never heard anything like that before and wondered what kind of instruments was used to create those elaborate and alien notes.

Vinyl grabbed my hand and continued to drag me down the long concourse. She refused to let go as if I would run out of the place if she did. I doubt myself that I could as my hand was warm from her touch. It definitely felt much nicer than the cold night air outside. I quickly caught up with her and we walked down the corridor side by side. Even then, she never let go of my hand.

"So, you work here?" I asked her curiously.

"Yeah," she answered. "Three guesses as to what I do here." She smiled slyly as if I wouldn't be able to figure it out.

"Alright." I quickly gave the first thing that popped into my head as my first guess. "Waitress?"

She laughed as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard. "Yeah, as if I could be a waitress with my temper, right?"

Remembering earlier with the thief, I silently acknowledged her assessment as I thought again. As we moved closer, I could see beams of light shooting everywhere at the end of the tunnel. It gave me another idea. "Are you some kind of technician here?"

She pressed her finger under her chin as she considered my qusai-second guess. "I guess you could say that. And, I won't count that against you," she graciously said.

"Well, do you work on the lights or something like that?"

She shook her head. "They help me with what I do, but no." She smiled at me, knowing that I only had one chance of getting the right answer. She looked as if there was prize if I guessed it right.

I was ready to give up as the loud music was starting to give me a headache when I suddenly remembered how there was supposed to be a beautiful DJ that work here. I looked at her and one look over her headphones still over her shoulders gave me the clue that I needed. "You're a DJ, aren't you?"

"Ding, ding, ding, ding!" she giggled. "How'd you figured it out?"

I pointed to her black headphones. "Finally noticed them, huh?" she continued to tease me.

"They looked really expensive."

"Two thousand bits, and worth every last one of them. Now, it's my turn to guess." She studied me real quick before she gave her answer. "Are you a cop?"

"No," I answered bluntly.

"Really? Could have fooled me after the way you stallion-handled that guy." She took a couple of seconds to think, which I started to believe that she was just guessing the first thing that came to her mind. "Are you one of those special forces guys I keep hearing about in Canterlot."

"No," I said, "but I was in Canterlot."

"Good. Then I'm on the right track."

"But, you only have one guess left," I teased her.

She didn't seem fazed by it. "That's more than enough." She focused her eyes on me more as if she was trying to read my mind, which I wondered if she could. As a unicorn, she can do magic and I had seen unicorns used mind reading spells that I found rather freaky.

"Oh, I know," she released her hold of my hand and stood in front of me to stop our walk. "You're one of those crazy martial arts masters who lived up the mountains to study the ancient arts of Equestrian Kung Fu to defeat Equestria's foes! Hai-ya!" She posed in her best martial arts stance as if she was ready to fight me in the middle of the corridor.

I only looked at her as if she had just gone crazy all of the sudden, which she quickly dropped her stance. "I guess that wasn't it, huh?"

"You're on a one-way ticket to the Crystal Empire you're so cold," I answered her.

"Well, shit," she snapped her fingers as she consented to her defeat. "There goes my three guesses. Course, you don't have anything on you that could tell me what you are."

"Well, that's because the answer is that I _used_ to being a Palace Guard."

Her eyes went big and her lips parted to form a small hole in her mouth as she stared at me with surprise. "You were a Palace Guard?"

"Yeah. Four years."

"Wow," she said, clearly impressed by it. "I've heard that it was pretty hard to become a guard for the two princesses."

"It was admittedly hard, but once you learned the secrets, it wasn't really that bad."

We continued walking down the concourse side-by-side. She wasn't holding my hand anymore, but she didn't need to. I was willfully following her where we both exchanged brief looks that held hints of intimacy as I found myself really liking the mare and her carefree attitude. I hadn't realized then that she had an invisible hold on me as we finally made it to the main part of the building, the dance hall.

I didn't know what I was expecting, but I never believed that the place would be as huge as I saw it in front of me. The first thing that caught my attention was the hundreds of lights that flew all over the dark blue atmosphere. Some of them pointed into my eyes, blinding me momentarily. Some parts were using strobe lights, lighting up as if taking pictures. Where we were standing was on the second level of the club, where a walkway swerved on both sides of us down to the first level, where the huge dance floor , which was lighted up with several colors underneath the hundreds of feet of the dancer joined together to lose themselves in this music that I was still getting used to. Along the walkway, many tables were occupied by different groups of ponies, some large group of friends, some just couples. Over to our right there was a bar that situated itself from the walkway on its own flooring. Over to our left, there was a section, much like the bar, that served as a dining area. On the opposite of us where we entered, there was a large part of the wall that was completely bare, which I found to me rather odd as there were no decorations on it. And, because of my ignorance of dance clubs, I did not notice the absence of a DJ stand where Vinyl would play her music. It was hidden and will only appear when it needed to. There was nowhere for me to escape from the sights and sounds that hammered into my brain. I felt like my brain was about to get overloaded from all of these epileptic nonsense.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Vinyl asked.

I was hesitant with my response. "I…guess." I could not begin to think of what to make out of a place like this. She grabbed my hand again and took me to the left walkway. I actually squeezed her hand tight, afraid that I would lose my life saver and get lost in this sea of chaos.

"I'm feeling a little hungry," she said. "You want something to eat? My treat."

"Yeah, sure."

We walked over to one of the tables near the railing so that I could get a clear view of the dance floor below us. I could see that it was not filled to its capacity, but Vinyl assured me that the night was still young and that more ponies will be joining in soon. I couldn't help but think that she was implying that we'll be joining in sometime soon as well. I was secretly dreading it.

A waitress came by and gave Vinyl a hug in hello. When the waitress looked at me, she smilingly whispered into Vinyl's ear, causing her to laugh. I blushed as I wondered what she was saying about me and I tried to look down at the ponies dancing below us, trying to find them more interesting. They looked so carefree, like the world did not matter to them right then. How anypony could think like that even if it was only for a few minutes, I wondered.

"Hey, Red Badge!"

I turned my eyes to Vinyl and found the waitress was patiently waiting for me, an amused smile on her face. I only ordered water which she wrote down and left the two of us alone.

"I only ordered some preztals. I hope you don't mind," Vinyl said.

"No, that's fine."

"So, how do you like the place so far?"

I gave a quick look around and try to find a word that would sum up everything that the _Moonlight Wilderness_ was showing me. I realized that no word that I know of could do justice of what I felt about it, positive or negative. I gave up, saying that I don't have an opinion at the moment. She accepted it and we went quiet, letting the music keep our silence from becoming too uncomfortable.

As we waited for our drinks, I would risk a glance at her swayed her upper body rhythmically to the music, which, most likely, she had produced and the ponies down at the dance floor are dancing to. Even though she appeared herself somewhat playful, if not childish, I could definitely sense a form of strong maturity within her. She seemed already content with her life right now, being the DJ of a very popular night club. While I, on the other hoof, just started his first year of college, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I felt as if I was at a fork in the road, indecisive in what path I wanted to take while not knowing their destinations.

As I stared at her lustrous snow-white face, I wondered why she would treat me like this, a complete stranger that she had only met out on the street not ten minutes ago. I wondered what she could be thinking about me after knowing the information she had just learned. She seemed kind enough, but I didn't believe that it was anything much stronger than that out of her thanking the stallion who had helped her. As she said, she was paying me back. Nothing more, nothing less. But, there was that foolish hope that kept my brain active that tonight would be somewhat different, maybe a little bit more. I hadn't realized just how different it would get.

She turned her head at me and gave me a conscientious smile. I couldn't help but to smile back at her as my face burn with the simple pleasure that she was giving her attention to me.

"So," Vinyl started, "you said that you were a palace guard?"

"Yes," I answered quickly.

"And, you're out?"

"For about a year and a half now."

"So, what do you do now?"

"College. Just finishing up my first semester here."

"At the University of Manehatten?"

I nodded, feeling rather optimistic about myself.

"Well, that makes us enemies."

I looked up, surprised by her choice of words. Before I could ask, the waitress had arrived with the basket of pretzels and our drinks, a glass of water for me and a shot glass for her, which it was accompanied by a bottle of whiskey which the waitress slammed on the table as if to relieve the weight.

"Enemies?" I asked her, still confused.

"Yeah. I graduated from the University of Los Pegasus a couple of years back."

"Oh," I said, feeling a bit silly. Our two universities are rivals in terms of sports teams that I never paid much attention to. "Well, what was your degree?"

She poured herself a glass of the liquor. "Business."

I gave her a cocked eyebrow at her peculiar answer. She caught it as she smiled, knowing what I was thinking. "Yeah, yeah, I don't blame you. I get that look all the time. If it makes it a little more believable, I also minored in Music." She took a sip, her smile still on her face. I just accepted it, still somewhat surprised by her answer. "What about you? What are majoring in?"

I was a bit hesitant with my answer. "Film studies."

"Really?" she immediately took interest with my answer. "You know, I actually took one of those classes to complete my graduation requirements. Man, that was tough. I barely made it through."

"Yeah," I said. I was rather uncomfortable about talking about it because I wasn't entirely sure about my choice of studies, even though I fully enjoyed it.

"You don't sound too happy about it."

"It's just…" I paused a bit, wondering if she wanted to hear more of it, but she seemed interested so I continued. "My dad…he wasn't too fond of the idea of me being a film major. In fact, he doesn't want me to go to college anyway. He said to me that I might as well be a major in uselessness."

"Geez," she said, eating some pretzels. "That's pretty harsh."

"We sorta have a love-hate relationship. More so on the hate side."

We went silent, me regretting about mentioning my father, and I was sure she was, too, about asking. We ate our pretzels in silence while the music could only fill up what the uncomfortable air hadn't filled.

"So," she began again, "did you ever met with the princesses?"

I accepted the new subject. "Yeah, on a regular basis."

"What were they like?"

I smiled as the many images that I got to see behind the scenes as they flashed in my mind. "That's confidential. Believe it or not, I had been sworn to secrecy to never tell anypony of what I had seen during my four years in Canterlot."

"Aww, no fair," she said in a playful remark. "Now I'm dying to know what goes on behind those palace doors."

"Well, whatever rumors you've heard, about 99.999% of them are completely false."

"Well, what about the other 0.001% of the rumors?" she smiled devilishly.

"Highly exaggerated."

We laughed, glad to have kept the ice from forming between us as I relax and started to enjoy her company. I had never been given the chance to spend time with a girl like her or to actually act calm around one. It felt really nice to be free of this anxiety that had plagued me for nearly all of my life, to feel as if I was being myself in front of her, and she seemed to enjoy it as well.

"I only met Princess Celestia during the Summer Sun Celebration a few years back, when I was finishing my first year of college. I found her to be very regal but I could sense a bit of playfulness about her. But, I was very surprised that she knew my name, even though that was the first time I've ever met her."

"Yeah, I was there myself, in Los Pegasus," I said. A burning memory came flashing, a darker image that I didn't want to see again. To see that stallion holding his bloodied knife as he hovered over that poor mare as she was bleeding. I quickly pushed that image from my mind, but I know that could never be able to delete it.

"Are you okay?" she asked, noticing my uneasy look.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Just…" That memory had been bothering me ever since it had happened, almost six months after I became a Palace Guard. It was something that a stallion from a small town of Ponyville would never see in his lifetime unless he was very unfortunate to witness such a thing. And the guilt that came with it because I was a stupid kid. I looked at her and she had an inquisitive look on her face. I quickly wave the conversation away, figuring that it doesn't matter to bring up a subject like that. I didn't want it to ruin the evening if I could help it. "Forget it."

Thankfully, she shrugged her shoulders in acceptance and continued to pour whiskey into her shot glass. "You want a little taste of it?" she asked.

"I'm not a drinking pony," I answered.

"Well, how about one drink?" she offered. "It's good."

I gave in, nodding my head. I did feel like I was stiff as a board and still felt anxious around her. She slid the glass across the table, turning the glass 180 degrees so that the part where she drank from was facing me. I looked at her somewhat accusingly, that I had figured out what she had done. She smiled innocently as she tried not to laugh at my accusing glare, which was turning playful as I smiled.

I picked up the glass, a little hesitant to bring the rim to my mouth. I started to sip a bit, but Vinyl stopped me. "Don't sip it," she warned. "You need to swing it down. Let it drop down into your throat like a waterfall. Otherwise, you'll have that alcohol aftertaste that'll stay with you for the rest of the night."

I took her advice, figuring that it sounded almost like when I had to swing some bad tasting medicine when I was a kid. Without thinking, I tipped the glass and I could feel that burning liquid flowing down my throat like a wildfire. Once it was empty, I slammed the glass down on the table, coughing from the burning sensation that lingered on my tongue as I made a grab for my water, downing half a glass to get the taste out.

Vinyl covered her mouth but she failed to suppress her laughter at my stupidity. But, I could tell that she was not laughing at me, but with me as I joined in with her. She reached out for my hand, placing hers on top of mine and giving it a little squeeze as she continued to giggle. I gently squeezed her little fingers back in return as a thank you for this already nice night that was only the precursor to what was about to happen as the night continued.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter III: Hacking my Heart**

We talked for a while about anything that popped into our heads or that was led from previous conversations. We laughed and joked about some of our funny stories, like her stories about her days in college and mine about the time I was in the Palace Guards. Sometimes, she would reach out and placed her hand on top of mine, which I graciously accepted it as a sign of acceptance, and I was starting to feel very comfortable around her as I had never felt before with another mare.

"Yo, Vinyl!" a female voice shouted next to our table. We looked up and, standing next to us, three mares stood over, all looking at Vinyl with recognizing looks. The one in front, a pink earth pony with a curly mane, wore a short black skirt with a purple blouse with the top three buttons unconnected so that much of her bust was revealed. Behind her was a blue unicorn with a blue and white mane and she was wearing a flowery dress as if she was going on a picnic that stopped just a few inches above her knees and carried a flower in her mane up against her right ear. The third pony was a pegasus with a light purple coat, with a white mane with a pink bow in it. She wore a tie-dye tank top with blue jeans with huge rips and holes in them along down her legs.

"Berry Punch! Minuette! Flitter!" Vinyl greeted each one individually with hugs as they kissed each others' cheeks. "How are you girls doing? I'm so glad that you could make it!"

The four of them started talking, which, from what I could get out of it, was that the three were friends that she had made when she first moved here from Los Pegasus. I ignored them as they catch up while I just listen to the music.

"Hey, Red Badge," Vinyl shook my shoulder to get my attention. "I want you to meet my friends." She introduced them to me one at a time, which all of the mares greeted me warmly. "This guy here is my hero," she said as she patted my shoulder. "He stopped some dumbass thief from taking my money."

Her friends gave their approval with praises and coos, which made me blush as I tried to turn away to hide my embarrassment.

"Aww, he's shy," Flitter said as the mare giggled.

"You sure know to pick them, Vin," Berry said. "This is, what, the second time that you were rescued by a stallion? Only this time, you got a face to go with the hero."

"Berry," Minuette lightly chided the mare. "Ix-nay on the ero-hay."

"What?" Berry said. "That was so long ago that I'm sure most ponies have forgotten about it."

I was a bit struck by that statement and wondered what she meant by that. Vinyl, however, shushed the mare up, clearly not impressed by Berry's outburst.

"Sorry," Minuette apologized for the mare. "She had a few before we even arrived here."

Vinyl relaxed, a smile forming on her face as if she knew exactly what the blue unicorn meant. "Typical."

"Hey, the hell's does that mean?" Berry challenged.

"Hey, Vinyl," Flitter chimed in, "would you mind playing some of that new music you were working on?"

Vinyl, to my surprise, looked at her friends with some nervousness. "Oh, I don't know," Vinyl said, scratching her mane. "I think it's a bit too early. Besides, I not too sure about it."

"Oh, come on. You were always like this, and each one has been a huge hit in the club, right?"

"Yeah, but…" she gave a small giggle. "I guess I'm still not used to ponies calling me a 'musical genius' all the time."

"So, are you going to play it?" Minuette jumped in.

"Sure," Vinyl nodded. "But, on one condition." She pointed at me, which I looked at her with confusion. "I want you girls to show him a good time as his reward for helping me."

"What?" I cried.

"Is that all?" Berry said, looking at me like a predator that had cornered her prey. "Too easy."

"Alright, then. He's all yours."

Vinyl was about to walk away, leaving me alone with her three friends, who all looked at me as though they were going to rip me apart. I quickly got up from my seat and grabbed her hand, stopping her from abandoning me. She turned to me, a bit surprised by my action.

I tried to talk, but my mouth only spoke in gibberish as I tried to control my mouth and tongue to communicate my feelings about what she was doing to me, that I did not want to separate from her. Not because I was frightened out of my mind, but because I just want to be with her, even though I couldn't explain why. I wasn't even sure what the hell I was thinking.

But, before I could form the first word, she pressed her lips up against mine to silence me. My whole, entire body went solid like stone as she electrified my brain from that warm and luscious touch that she was giving me. My lungs froze, refusing to breathe and my eyes were focused on her red eyes as they stared right back at me, and I could see that longing return and it drew me in closer to her as I slowly started to return her kiss. The moment ended with a small smack as she released from me. I breathed heavily through my mouth as I stared at the white unicorn, who slowly formed that coy smile.

"Don't be afraid," she spoke in a soft and encouraging voice. "Just enjoy yourself." She then moved her head next to mine, resting her chin on my left shoulder as she moved her mouth to my ear. "I'll join you down there soon," she whispered. She walked away down the ramp, giving me one last wink as she disappeared into the crowd.

"Hey there, lover boy," Berry tapped me on the shoulder to grab my attention. I turned around to find Vinyl's three marefriends all looking at me. Their expression had softened, making me feel a little comforting to be around them, but I was already missing Vinyl. "So, what you think of her?"

I turned back to search for Vinyl, but she was nowhere to be found. I looked back to her friends and started to come up with an answer as her kiss and words lingered in my mind. "She's…unique."

"Yeah, she definitely is," Berry said, slapping me on the shoulder.

"She can be pretty headstrong, especially with the colts and stallions," Minuette joined in, standing next to me. "The fact that you are on her good side showed that you are doing something right."

"I wouldn't know that." I rubbed my lips as I could still taste her. I turned towards Berry, remembering something that she had just said. "Excuse, Miss Berry?"

She looked at me with a stern look. "What the fuck do you mean 'Miss'? What, you think I'm old or something?"

"No, no!" I waved my hands to keep her from pressing any furthered but she pushed her face right up to mine, pressing her nose hard onto my nose as her eyes stabbed me like daggers.

"I'll have you know that I'm 26 years old, bucko! Sure, I may be older than half of the ponies here, maybe even three quarters of them, but I still got it."

"I do not doubt that-"

"Here, have a feel!" She grabbed my hands and placed them on her breast. I tried to pull them away, but she held them there with her hands as she pressed her body into me. My fingers formed around the shape of her breasts, wrinkling her blouse as she looked at me as if she was expecting me to instantly fall in love with her. I had to turn my nose away because of the stench of alcohol that radiated from her mouth. "So, what do you think? They're nice, aren't they? 100% natural!" She proclaimed proudly.

Before I could think of an answer, both Minuette and Flitter pulled her away, which she resisted a bit as I sat back down in my chair and turned away. I could feel a reaction in my groin and I tried to keep it down.

"Sorry about that," I looked up and found Flitter smiling apologetically as she sat in the other chair. I looked at the two mares and Minuette was kissing Berry on the lips. "Believe it or not, that was the worse she would get."

"How much did she drink?"

"She had two whole bottles of chardonnay two hours ago at a restaurant not far from here. She could hold her liquor pretty well, but she sometimes let it get the best of her once you put her in a party like this," she giggled.

I turned away from the kissing mares and looked at Flitter. She seemed rather nervous about something but I ignored it as I still want to know what Berry had meant earlier. "Um…"

"You can just call me 'Flitter,'" she said.

"Flitter…what did Berry meant…when she said that I was the second pony to help Vinyl?"

Her expression showed me that they had made some kind of mistake as she started to bite on her fingernail. "Uh…I'm sorry…I'm not allowed to say."

"Why not?" I said, intrigued by this new information. Flitter seemed like she's digging a hole that she couldn't escape.

"It's…" she paused for a few seconds as she tried to wait out for something to happen to make me forget out my curiosity, but when nothing did, she relented and figured that she might as well say something because I was not doing to let it drop. "Yes, she was saved by another stallion. It was years ago. And, it was a lot more serious."

"Serious, as in what?"

She looked as if she was betraying a friend, but I could see that she believed that this would help Vinyl if I knew something. "She was attacked by…her coltfriend and…some mysterious stallion came out of nowhere and saved her."

While she was incredibly vague, I was rather struck by how familiar it sounded to me. It was as if was Déjà vu all of a sudden.

I was about to press her harder for more when Berry interrupted me. "Flitter, you naughty mare!" Berry stood next to the pegasus as she looked down at her with Minuette standing by her side. "Look at you, picking up stallions while your fiancée is faithfully waiting for your answer."

"Will you shut up, Berry?" Flitter yelled at the drunken earth pony. "I just haven't decided on it yet, okay?" The pegasus turned away from her friend. She was upset as she clearly was offended by what Berry had just said.

Berry, however, calmed down, her eyes going sober as she looked at her distressed friend. She placed a hand on her shoulder and gave an assuring rub. "It's okay. I'm sorry about that."

Flitter seemed to accept it as she placed her head on her marefriend's hand with acceptance.

"Hey, everypony!" a voice boomed through the club like thunder, waking everybody from what they were doing. I immediately recognized it as belonging to Vinyl. "You guys having a great time tonight?" The crowd answered with a combined voice of cheers and screams of approval. Her three friends joined in to give their answer along with the entire club. "Well, how about we make it even better? I got myself some groovy new songs that I wanted to test out on you guys and gals, and I want to know what you guys think. How's that sound?" The crowd erupted into another answer. "I'll take that as a 'Yes,' then."

Then, the large wall on the other side started to separate down the middle and the two halves crawled away from each other. As they did, there was Vinyl, standing behind her DJ stand, with speakers surrounding her. Lights along the front lit up, flooding the dance floor with many more soft and multi-colored beams as they swim through the excited crowd. I looked and I could see that she placed her headphones over her ears and that she was prepared to please her partiers.

"Well, looks like it's time," Berry said. Flitter got up from her seat and Minuette grabbed my hand and tried to pull me out of my seat, which I was very reluctant to go.

"I-I-I'm good," I told her, hoping that she would get the message that I did not want to dance.

"Oh, come on," the blue unicorn said. "She's waiting for you."

She pointed to the DJ stage and I saw Vinyl looking at me. She smiled, waving at me as a sign that she wanted me to join in on the fun so that she can too. I don't know what really went through my mind at that moment, but I could definitely say that seeing her smile at me with that encouraging look, her smile and her eyes combined to give off a sultry look as if she can't wait to rock my world, but she couldn't do if I was not part of hers. Whatever she had in her mind right then, she wanted to give me my award. I quickly grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured into the glass half-full and drowned it down my throat.

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about," Berry approved as she took a swing from the bottle. Her friends had to tear it out of her hand.

"You ready, cutie?" Flitter asked, extending her hand out for mine.

I gave up as I felt a little relaxed when I accepted her hand. "Let's do this."

With Minuette and Flitter pulling me by the hands, Berry was pushing me from behind as they dragged me down the walkway toward the first level. My face was warm and my brain felt like it was swimming. I saw some of the stallions looking at me with surprise envy as they saw three beautiful mares taking me down to the dance floor, too, as Vinyl put it, "to show me a good time." As we did, I looked up and Vinyl was setting her records up. She gave me one last wink before she began starting up her music.

"Whatever you do," Berry whispered into my ear, "don't fall in love in with her."

I was taken by surprise by the polar switch of her tone as I looked at her, wondering what the hell she was talking about.

"I mean it," she threatened, like she would kill me if go against her. "She's mine."

"What?"

"Minuette." She poked my chest hard with her finger. "She's my marefriend, and I'll be damn if I'm going to let you take her away from me."

I only stared at her with a lot of confusion, wondering if it was the alcohol talking to me.

"And, also, don't think about falling for Flitter, as well. She's got a coltfriend, and she loves him very, very much. So, don't think just because we act like we are coming on to you because you are cute, which you are. We're only doing this because Vinyl asked us."

"O-Okay. I'm sorry. I thought you were…"

Her demeanor immediately changed to a very friendly one. "Oh, Vinyl? Oh, that's fine. You can fall in love with her if you want."

I was dumbstruck that I didn't have time to say anything as the mares pulled me onto the dance floor where a sea of ponies were packed together. Colors were raining down upon us as well as pushing up from the floor beneath our hooves, swirling from above and lighting up instantly in different spots of the floor where I could, only for a second, see the ponies faces, their clothing, and their bodies as they move along with the beat of the sound. I looked up to find Vinyl and I could see her moving her body along with everypony else with the strobe light working in full effect. Like the snapping of pictures, her body was moving along to the beat of the music, swaying back and forth, her mane flying over her head, looking even more lost than the dancers with me down here as she listened to her music through her headphones.

I stood in the middle and looked around at the large mass of moving ponies as they jumped and sway around me. It was claustrophobic as I felt that I could not get any air as if they were all taking it away from me as I felt as if I was the center of attention, even though these ponies did not seem to acknowledge me.

A tapped on my shoulder brought my attention to Minuette as she smiled innocently at me.

"I know how it feels," she said. "It took a while for me to get used to it myself." She took my hand and started to dance as her way to encourage me as she grabbed a hold of the hem of her dress. "Just sway your body to it. Let the music slowly take a hold on you."

I started to bob my head in the rhythm of the beat, which she smiled in approval. "See? You're getting it."

I laughed nervously as I stopped. "I feel so stupid."

"Don't be," Berry grabbed me from behind, wrapping her arms around her stomach, squeezing her body so that I could feel her warm breath on neck. "Relax." She swayed her body, which I followed along. Minuette wrapped her arms around my neck and started to sway along with the two of us. "Bet you never had a hot filly fooler sandwich before, huh?"

I laughed nervously, but I was starting to feel calmer as I let myself to drop the restraints from myself as I start to feel the music grab a hold of my body like its prisoner. It grabbed my legs as it made slight pivots on the shoals of my hoofs. My head started to bob once again, showing more confidence in my presentation. My fingers on my right hand were dancing as well, tapping along with the beat.

"Um, excuse me," Minuette brought me back to reality. She wore a teasing smile as her face blushed. "You're, um…you're tapping my flank," she whispered.

I pulled my hand away, my face flushing as I tried to apologize, but the two mares only laughed as they continued with their dancing, taking me along for the ride.

Soon, I was able to get back in the groove, my body becoming more in tune with the music. Without realizing, both Berry and Minuette slowly back away from me as I become looser with my body as I let the music take control over it. Soon, I had my hands up in the air, and I could hear the mares shout their encouragement as they all dance next to me.

I felt that I had danced for days as I had lost track of any sort of time as the lights blinded me and the music pounded into my head, and with all of the ponies surrounding me, but I didn't care. I felt as if I was a part of this huge mass, that I was just one piece of the puzzle that had found its place in the whole picture. Berry, Flitter, and Minuette took their turn to dance with me as they closed their bodies to mine. While both Minuette and Flitter were mild and gentle with me, Berry, on the other hand, was a bit more seductive with hers as she pressed her back up against my front, with her bushy tail wrapped around my body and pressing her flank up against my groin so that she could get a reaction from there. I had to step away from her in order to calm myself down. I started to feel that I had my fill of the dance floor and I was ready to get off and call it a night.

As I was beginning to walk off, Vinyl stood in front of me, blocking my exit as she stood in front of me, her body just centimeters from mine. Her deep red eyes were on me, smiling, and they never left me, not even as she stepped back a bit so that I could see her snow-white body lit up by the colors as she start to dance provocatively for me.

Her hips swerve around in tight little circles as she raised her left arm up into the air as she grab it with her right from behind her head. My eyes were glued to her hypnotic body as she pivoted her hips, spinning her body around as she rolled her lower body, with her backside enchanting me. I was getting drawn into her spell as I closed the gap between us. The look she was giving to me was captivating, her smile innocent yet her eyes were seductive. I wanted to touch her, to hold her close to my body, to never leave me, but I was too scared to even ask her if I could, that she might reject my offer. But, those fears evaporated as she danced closer to me and I brought my hands around her waist. She showed her willing subjection to my desires as she planted her lips on mine.

I pressed in deeper, wanting to taste her more, and she obliged as she opened her lips and her tongue entered my mouth. A sweet scent entered my nose, making her kiss all that much nicer. Her movement in my hands was like the ocean, gently rocking as her body caressed mine. Her arms wrapped around my neck to pull me deeper into her passion. Our tongues danced around each other, her taste transferring over to me as my taste was to her. It was more intoxicating than any liquor I believe ever existed as it affect my brain in such a potent way that it went to a whole new kind of level that nothing could rival it. She released her hold of her lips from me, but her spell had already been cast and I was to willfully obey her orders.

Her body gently spun in my embrace until she pressed her back up against mine. Her tail wrapped around my left leg as if to keep me captive to her as her slave, which I did not mind. My hand found their way to her bare stomach and they slid through her slick fur like water. Her breath was slow but potent to my senses as I could feel her warmth running across my face. She placed her hands over mine, squeezing to keep them where they were. I turned my head so that my lips are lined up with hers and stole a kiss from her.

Her hips rocked up against my lower body, from which her flank moved against my groin, exciting more passion across my body. Heat was growing in that area, and I knew that she was doing it on purpose as I felt her lips smiled teasingly when I let out a breath to release my thrill. She pressed harder against me, and I pushed back, my hips moving on their own as we dance in rhythm like we were a single organism. She let out a pleasurable moan as I moved up against her, which she responded with a subtle move of her hips, which made me moan in turn. We were in conflict, raging war as we made our attacks with our lips, tongues, and hands as our entire bodies battled each other for dominance, with the music as our war song.

I retreated from her lips and she smiled in victory, but I had another strategy. I moved my lips to her shoulder and planted kisses along the top. She rocked her body hard against mine, trying to throw me off, but I kept on with my attack as I drew closer to her neck. Her sense was deadly as it kept attacking my brain with its sweet nectar, which made her taste sweeter than any cake I ever had. Her body shivered against me as I reached the base of her neck. She let out a small moan as I pressed into her, gently sucking her, which she conceded by letting me have full access to her as she bend her head away to expose her weak spots to me. Her hands reached for my head, placing them on top and grabbing through my mane and she pushed my head down, with my lips burying into her neck.

She let out moans of pleasure as I grabbed control of our dance, dictating the moves as she melted into me. I rubbed my hands across her stomach, feeling her hot skin underneath. I could feel lines on her stomach, tracing them along with subtle touches, but I didn't think much of them as I was completely lost in the sights and the sounds of the _Moonlight Wilderness_ and in our passion.

I released her from my grasp of my lips and she turned back around, returning her lips to mine as we embrace as if to keep the embers of our passion going. Our lips let go and connected our forehead together, with mine resting at the base of her horn. Our bodies were a bit fatigue, but, at least, my fondness was growing hungrily for her as we continued to sway to the beat, losing in each other's eyes. I started to chuckle, could not believe of what I had experienced. She smiled brightly and kissed my forehead. She, then, rested her head in my chest, and I hugged her close to my beating heart, which I was sure she could hear it.

I dropped all of my sense of time because I did not want to count the seconds I may have for me to stay in this beautiful creature's affectionate and seductive hold on me.


End file.
